


Fading Memories

by Aspen_Writer



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Past life, Romance, Some prejudices in some chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:12:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aspen_Writer/pseuds/Aspen_Writer
Summary: Phear Lap enjoys his job at the Devil's Casino. Always keeping track of the racers, taking bets from betters who would either win or lose money, and caring for the horses before and after each race. But still there were some things that bothered him in the casino and usually his way of dealing with these uncomfortable situations is to drown them in drink.Most of his coworkers believe it's due to him being closed off and unable to socialize with anyone else except horses.Or maybe it was due to events in his past. Events that were hard, painful, and not easy to forget.The road to hell is paved with good intentions, many say.But for Phear Lap,  the road to hell was a way to escape and to save.





	Fading Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Some of you might remember in my first fanfic, "Price of Freedom", Phear Lap was one character in the story that helped Cagney escape from the Devil's Casino. Many wanted to know why and for awhile I wondered that myself.  
> This wondering led to the idea of doing a fanfic of Phear Lap's backstory and eventually the idea grew and now here we have the prologue for the story.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy it!

**Prologue: Dreams and Drinks**

The racetrack was silent and empty, not a spectator was in sight except for a lone figure walking on the tracks. The figure was as white as a skeleton, which was entirely accurate for indeed it was, the skeleton of a horse that is.

The horse slowly walked down the familiar lane of the tracks, slightly limping with each step he took and grumbling with frustration. It was a huge pain to be walking down this vast track where many horses galloped to victory, but the walking was good for strengthening his legs. Halfway down the track, the horse stopped and leaned against the railing, massaging his aching joints.

Just a few more steps…then he’ll go back to the casino.

His ears twitched at the sound of something strange…the sound of footprints. The horse looked up and froze.

Near the spectator seats, a lone figure stood among the empty chairs. It was another horse like himself but black in color with a small spot of white on its nose.

The skeletal horse stood up and lurched his way towards the figure, his throat tightening with intense emotions he hadn’t felt for so long.

Just as he was about to reach the other horse, a gust of wind blew and like sand the figure dissolved into nothing.

The skeleton gave a cry of distress, trying to grasp any sign of the figure that had stood there. When nothing appeared, the horse sank down to his knees, slamming the ground with his fist. Raising his head again he found himself trapped in one of the racehorse’s starting gate. Panic was beginning to set in as he slammed against the metal walls, desperate to escape from the enclosed space.

There doors suddenly burst open and the horse shot out from the gates like a bat out of hell. Hooves pounding on the track, the horse could see nothing except the track in front of him as he ran and ran, ignoring the fiery pain coursing through his legs.

More voices were heard, voices the horse never expected to hear ever again.

_“Your life is a sin!”_

_“You need to be loyal to the family.”_

_“You can’t escape from this life now.”_

_“You’re dead to me.”_

_“I never want to see you again.”_

_“You are better off forgotten!”_

The voices continued on with the phrases, rising louder and louder and mixed in them were the horrible sounds of the screams and snorts of angry horses and the pounding of their hooves.

The skeletal horse shut his eyes tightly and continued on running. He had no idea where he was running to but he had to escape. Escape from these awful noises, escape from the voices…escape from these memories.

A burst of pain erupted from his legs and he fell to the ground. Any attempt to stand up caused his legs to buckle and sent him crashing down again.

Then there as a monstrous sound that was between a horse’s whinny and a roar. The skeleton looked up to see a large black horse, nostrils flared as it sucked in the air, red eyes flaming with rage and hatred.

Reaching the skeletal horse, the black horse reared up on its hind legs and let out another monstrous roar.

The last thing the skeleton horse saw were the large iron hooves coming down upon his face.

* * *

 

Phear Lap’s eyes snapped open just as the sound of a clock began to ring. Blinking the sleep away from his eyes he could see that he wasn’t back at the racetrack. He was still in bed in a dark room with the clock still ringing an alarm.

Taking a deep breath, Phear Lap groggily pawed around at his nightstand before finally grabbing his clock to check the time.

4:30 AM.

Right on time.

Groaning, the skeleton horse slowly got out of bed, wincing at the aches and pains in his legs before stumbling towards the bathroom and then to the bathroom mirror. Opening up the mirror he grabbed a bottle of pills and swallowed two of the aspirins inside, grimacing at the aftertaste. He placed the bottle of pills back and reached for a small bottle of gin to wash away the aftertaste. Much to his dismay the bottle was empty causing him to toss it away in disgust.

After finishing up his usual morning routine, the horse stepped out from his small house and started down the pathway that led to a large stable at the edge of Inkwell Hell.

As he walked the pains in his legs began to fade away much to his relief. Hopefully he’ll be able to last till nightfall.

Finally he arrived at the stable and with a grunt he pushed the doors open.

“Morning, boys.”

At the sound of his voice there was rustling and snorting coming from the stalls along with soft nickers of greeting. Phear Lap smiled at these sounds. It always brought him great pleasure to hear the horses greeting him.

Thus at 5 AM the feeding of the horses began with Phear Lap going from stable to stable to pour in feed into the stable feeders all while talking to each of the horses.

“Don’t eat too much, Blue Wood. Remember you’ve got a race today at four. So do you, Love That Loot. You think you’ll win this race? Get out of the corner, Mademoiselle Mauve. I’ve got your breakfast right here. How’s the leg doing, True Blue Fool? Getting better? Ha, well it’s a lot better than mine!”

By the time the horses were finished with their breakfast it was time for their training and for Phear to get to the casino for some breakfast before heading back to the racetrack booths to memorize jockey colors.

The casino was as loud and bright as last night with casino slots ringing and shouts from the patrons. Phear Lap made his way around the slots towards the casino restaurant where he sat at his usual table, a small one near the corner of the restaurant, far away from the patrons. The restaurant which was usually very busy only had five patrons sitting at tables or at the bar area which suited Phear Lap just fine.

Seconds after he seated himself, a martini glass appeared at his table.

“Morning, Phear. What’ll it be?”

Phear Lap snorted. “You know me well, Marian. You ought to know by now.”

“Well sorry, Horsey-Boy,” Marian smirked. “It’s required I ask that to every customer.”

“Heh,” Phear Lap smiled as he glanced at the menu. “Well if it’ll let you keep your job, then I’ll have the usual.”

“The usual breakfast, coming right up.” Marian nodded as she wrote down the order and went off to prepare the breakfast.

Once he was alone again, Phear Lap reached into his pocket and took out the racing program to get a headstart in studying the jockey colors. He got to the sixth jockey when several voices interrupted his thoughts. 

A family of demons had just entered the restaurant and had just seated at a nearby table. The family consisted of the patriarch, the matriarch and their three adult children. The family placed their breakfast orders and once the waiter went off to prepare the meal the family began to chat with one another with laughter occasionally breaking the chatter.

An uncomfortable twinge tugged at Phear Lap’s emotions as he watched the family. He looked down at the racing program in an attempt to ignore the family but the happy chatter and laughter made concentrating extremely difficult.

“Here you go, Phear.”

Phear Lap looked up as a plate of two fried eggs, tomatoes, fried potatoes, and toast was set in front of him along with a cup of coffee.

Marian gave a huge smile at him. “Enjoy!”

“Oh…thanks.”

Phear Lap set aside the program and dug into his usual breakfast but he wasn’t enjoying it as much as he would like to.  He wished the demon family would stop with their chatting and laughing…stop being so happy together. It brought back a lot of things that he wanted to forget. But still every so often he would glance over to watch them for a few minutes before turning his attention back to his breakfast and tried to ignore the feeling of regret welling inside him.

Finally he finished off the last piece of toast and gulped down the last drop of coffee but before he could put the mug down, Marian was right at his table.

“Anything else, Phear?”

Phear thought about this for a moment and another burst of laughter from the family caused him to frown. “Yeah…a bottle of whisky would be nice.”

Marian frowned. “Sorry, no can do.”

“And why not?”

“Remember the last time I gave you a bottle? You got so drunk that you mixed up the horses in the race and announced the wrong winner…twice. The boss got a lot of complaints about the winnings that day. Dice nearly had my head that day and I’m not about to face an angry dice man again!”

Phear Lap rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Okay…fine. No bottle then. I’m good…”

“All right. Have a good day, Phear!”

“Sure…”

With a groan, Phear Lap stood up from his table and headed for the exit. His ears flattened as he passed by the demon family and the uncomfortable twinge of regret continued on growing as he walked through the casino floor and out of the building. He headed back towards the racetracks and realized that he had forgotten his racing program back at the restaurant.

Growling to himself he continued on. He’ll just get another program back at the booth. There was no way he was going to go back to the restaurant and risk seeing that happy family still there. The sight of the racetracks made him feel a bit better and he was looking forward to being back at the racetrack booth by himself with nothing to do except to memorize the jockey colors.

As he got closer he saw an interesting sight. A horse trailer was parked outside of the stables and a slender chestnut horse was being led out by its owner. Phear Lap gave a low whistle of amazement at the sight of the horse.

“That’s a fine looking horse you’ve got there.”

“Thanks,” The owner smiled and patted the horse’s nose. “She’s a fast one. I’m hoping that she’ll win one of these races today.”

“What’s her name?”

“Chestnut Chelsea.”

“Huh…where did you come up with that name?”

“Oh it’s in honor of my wife.”

The uncomfortable twinge came up again. “Oh really?”

The owner nodded. “She wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of a horse named after her, but when she saw this gal she immediately loved the idea. We both took care of her as if she were our own child.” The owner gave an embarrassed laugh. “Crazy, isn’t it?”

“Mmph,” Phear Lap gave an uncomfortable shrug.

“You’ve got a wife?”

“No.”

“Ah, a girl then?”

“Not…exactly…”

“Hmmm…another male then?”

Phear Lap could only stare.

The owner smiled reassuringly. “It’s fine. I know all about—”

“You don’t know anything!” Phear Lap snapped. “And I have nobody, all right?! So shut up and mind your own business!”

Without even waiting for a reaction, Phear Lap turned and stormed off. Snatching a racing program from a nearby table, he climbed up the steps to the racetrack booth and slammed the door shut. Once alone the pain in his legs began to act up.

“Damnit!” The skeletal horse swore under his breath as he limped towards the desk and sat down.

Damn this day. Damn that family, damn that nosey horse owner, damn everything!

He slammed the program down at his desk and flipped through the pages in a desperate attempt to read and memorize. Still the memories he wanted were not coming to him. Instead the vague memories from long ago began to resurface causing him more pain and more frustration.

The skeletal horse leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes, uttering a noise that was between a growl and a sigh. His eyes darted towards the right desk drawer and he remained staring at it for a moment.

He shouldn’t…he really shouldn’t.

Still the memories were still so fresh…so raw.

Maybe one small drink wouldn’t hurt.

Phear Lap reached down and opened up the drawer where a bottle of liquor laid hidden underneath several papers. He took out the bottle and popped it open where he then took a long drink straight from the bottle.

The fiery liquid rushed down his throat and immediately the pain in his legs began to fade. The stress was beginning to lighten and the memories began to fade. Phear Lap breathed a sigh of relief as he sat back and closed his eyes to allow the liquor to take effect.

Just one drink…one drink to become numb and to forget everything.


End file.
